This article speaks by itself. Or let me say, this article gives room to 24 authors and writers to share how they found inspiration to write books from their relatives.

Just read it. I found unnecessary to comment on their views to keep it original. I hope this can be a source of creativity for your next content, be it an article or a book. You can learn from these authors and their resourceful comments to craft your next content.

Carrie Aulenbacher. Inspired by my spouse AND my close relative, this was my debut novel: http://amzn.to/2neCIHW

Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Almost all my books are inspired by my spouse or close friends. Includes my books of poetry. I have this theory that almost nothing comes purely from the imagination; that everything is rooted in the experience of one kind or another. Http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile

Martha Moffett. I wrote, “A Flower Pot Is Not a Hat” when my 2-year-old daughter walked past my desk with a colander on her head. I said, “Take that off, it’s not a hat,” but when I looked again, it was just as hat-like as it was colander-like. The bo…Show more

Cindy Graham. I was inspired by my husband to write – Guide to Traveling with Your Man – Tips, Tricks, Secrets and Helpful Hints. http://bit.ly/travel_book. We are actually in London as I write this and will be in Europe for several more months.

Ron Lawruk. I wrote the biography For Love and Country, A Canadian Soldier’s Story http://www.ronlawruk.com inspired by my cousin who had to post-traumatic stress disorder after WW2 and me finally (after 40 years)convinced him to tell his story.

Marlene Bierworth. I was inspired to write my first book “Dreams With Feet” by my son. As a family, we joined in his dream of winter fun and sport: dogsledding and racing in the circuit.

Frances Laskowski. I was inspired to write Balloon Man, by my daughter who was then 13. We were driving on Route 10 through Louisiana, over a long bridge with swamp on both sides. My daughter who knew I was a big horror movie fan, made the comment: “…Show more

P. J. Mann. I almost feel bad to say that nobody close to me really inspired me to write anything. Is it really bad to have a wild imagination that brings me to many parallel realities to figure out characters and situations?

ZGloria Lintermans. Inspired by my sweet cat, SAM. Sam is a cat without a tail. He is a breed that sports an adorable puff of white fur instead. It is a colorful picture book that is a great conversation starter between kids and parents about diversity and being accepting of everyone’s differences. http://bit.ly/SamTail

R. Jay Berry. I have written four books all inspired by relatives. The First Sunday, Sunday’s Best, and Sunday’s Eternal Rose tell my grandmother’s story. My latest book, Forever Love, is inspired by my cousin and the love he had for a woman. All of my books have messages told through the stories. They can be found on my Amazon author page, R. Jay Berry.

Pennie (Arrwyn) Pyle. My mother inspired me to keep writing no matter what my teachers may have said. I started telling stories when I was 4. I’ve written all of my life since. However, my son Michael has helped me write “Max and the Devil’s Daughter” and we are working on “The Criminal Solution” together. My daughter was the inspiration for “Justification” a book about a psychologist taking the law into her own hands.Show less.

Sherrie Miranda. I shared the article on my WordPress blog! It’s a great place to start a discussion! My current (& last & best) husband is a musician. He is my inspiration! I always wanted to be a writer, but he made me believe I could do it! He made me see I could find the time IF I wanted it bad enough! http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y

Janet Garber. Wrote a funny poem inspired by my husband, Shelly, called The Passion of the Shelly. From his point of view. So about me. Or us. No one’s wanted to publish it yet. we think it’s pretty funny though. It’s good to look at yourself sometimes from another person’s point of view.

Jo Carson-Barr. My children’s books The GoodBye Chair and The Chill Out Chair were inspired by my grandson Nicholas.

If you were inspired by these authors, how could you write your first content based on a family story?

Like this:

That Wednesday morning, I was trying to load a research from Google chrome browser when my phone stopped working. I taught it was a normal malfunctioning as it happened before but later on, I couldn’t switch on my phone again. I began to panic when I realized I could no more have access to my phone for my daily routine activities such as the need to communicate, time on social media and transportation needs.

Three days later, I finally decide to buy a new phone and I had an idea: When setting back my phone number, I will know who my true friends are. Who really missed me during these three days offline? Being the one texting to other and sometimes they don’t reply made me feel I was wasting time. Or, being in so many WhatsApp groups that I no more knew which one was growing me or who was reading the articles I shared.

This would be the unexpected test to discover who my friends are really. Who will write and say: “Hey Boris! These are three days I have not heard from you! Is everything Ok?”

Finally, I bought a new phone, and … I was shocked to spend weeks without a text from around 90 % of my formal contacts. Some of the people inquired about me through my wife by asking my contacts. I added them back to my contacts list as my true relationships.

Some others send me a text not knowing I lost their contacts. Since some don’t have a profile picture, I apologize for asking their identity; Many did not respond despite the fact that I explained I lost many contacts while changing my phone.

Around a month later, I discovered that my contacts list dropped drastically. “These are my true friends,” I told myself. “These are the people In which I should invest consistently.”

I regretted all the wasted time on people that don’t really take me seriously. I am also happy that I can save so much time and I can write on a regular basis.

This situation made me reflect on social media friendships. Who are your real friends on social media? Those who like share or comment your posts, or those who look after you if you are offline for a while?

You can make this three steps test to know who your friends on social media are really:

Switch off your phone and reset it after 3 to 5 days and then wait to see who will look after you.

Stop being active on social media for a couple of weeks and each time verifies your inbox messages or emails. You’ll be amazed by the restricted number of “so-called friends” who care for you.

Uninstall Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, Skype, LinkedIn and another social network from your phone to avoid the temptation of always be the first to start a discussion. Make sure you use your PC once a day to check your discussion line on those networks, and then compare those who diligently inquire about you.

It sounds crazy right? But you have the choice of living in an elusive world of social media friendships or decide to build on solid foundations of people who care for each other.

Another benefit of doing this friendship scanning is the amount of time gained offline. You would be able to spend more time on those who are really important to you. You would also have time to invest on your skills and develop your potential to become an expert in your domain.

Like this:

I can still remember that evening I discussed with the aged man and he told me something that triggered the content of this article. I had in mind to write a piece on things that destroys visions but I felt like I had insufficient inspiration. That evening, I was sharing with the aged person an important goal of my family; He answered me: ” you have all your time; I repeat, you have all your time.”

I felt offended and challenged, knowing that if I obey to his advice, I and my family are going to miss an important aspect of our life. Suddenly, a flow of bad advice I received in the past came into my mind that I identify as vision’s killers.

Here are some of them:

Yourself. I identify the first vision’s killer as myself. A vision is a mental picture of a whole project to be accomplished; It’s the mental blueprint of what to achieve. For the blueprint to become reality, I have to set goals, establish an action plan and a timeframe. If my vision doesn’t become reality, I am the first one to blame because I took no actions to make it achievable.

Imagine that you see yourself with less than 10 pounds. You have to do something to loose those pounds. It could mean stop eating after 8 pm, set a time for regular physical exercise, avoid fats in your foods, etc.

Identity confusion. I remember the story on how elephant are raised in India. When they are born, the elephant is tied with a rod on a tree. They are fed there while growing; each time they want to move, the rod hinder them from doing so. When the elephant grows adult, the rod is cut off but, the elephant doesn’t move. He was conditioned to accept he could not move. One of the destructive vision’s killer is identity confusion.

Who are you? What are your skills? Where do you excel in helping others? if you accept what circumstances and environment say you are, you’ll never move forward. You need reconditioning of your mind to discover your true potentials and achieve what you meant to be. You must start seeing yourself in your best in the area you master the most.

Following the crowd. A young man ones told me: “You should be like everybody”. I replied: “That’s impossible. I am me!”. Thinking further, you are unique; Nobody has the same DNA codification as you. Even perfect twins are different in some aspect of their character and their personality.

The best way to kill a vision is wanting to become like everybody. The life of the crowd will assuredly lead you to vision suicide. On the other hand, look for people who see like you. Look for models in your area of expertise and develop your own path from what you learn from them.

Procrastination. Coming back to my encounter with the aged man, I noticed that the best time to take action to work on a vision is now. It’s the best time to sit for 30 minutes or an hour to write this article; Now is the best time to listen to that motivational podcast; Now is the best time to have a personal time for meditation; That important issue that needs to be addressed with that person must be done now.

Tomorrow will be the time to take the next step in writing, but today, I have to do something that brings me closer to the manifestation of the blueprint.

I identified these four vision’s killers from my personal experience and I would be glad to hear from your own experience. The following video could also inspire you to avoid vision’s killers.